


Sunset Curve not Sunset Straight

by bangchanseonyeondan



Series: Sunset Curve not Sunset Straight [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Angst?, Bi!Reggie, Canon Queer Character of Color, Canon Queer Relationship, Canonical Character Death, Death, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Homophobia, M/M, Multi, Sunset Curve, The Ambulance Scene, at some point i think, bcs im a sucker, does it count as major character death if we know they come back as ghosts-?, eventual juke, eventual willex, eventually, pan!Luke, pan!julie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27015202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bangchanseonyeondan/pseuds/bangchanseonyeondan
Summary: Luke likes Alex and Alex likes Luke but then Alex likes Willie and Reggie’s not straight either?? Who knows what’s happening- (not me)[CROSSPOSTED ON: TUMBLR (https://swearwolf-writes.tumblr.com/post/631881260120293376/sunset-curve-not-sunset-straight-masterlist)]
Relationships: Alex/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Luke Patterson/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: Sunset Curve not Sunset Straight [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988485
Comments: 33
Kudos: 142





	1. Chapter 1

It’s 1994. And things are weird.

Sunset Curve has been together for a couple of years now and they’re doing good- no, great - but things have been weird lately. They all know Alex is gay and it’s all good with them. Anyone says shit to Alex and they’ll end up in the ER. They’re family - brothers. Except not.

Luke has always been proud of Alex - he came out to the band before his parents and they’ve been with him every step of the way. When the disappointed looks got too much, Alex would crash with Luke in the studio and on more than one occasion, they’d end up asleep together. And Alex loves hugs. That’s no secret. What is a little bit of a secret is that he will cuddle anyone or anything when he sleeps. A pillow? Great. Luke? Even better. And that’s how we get to now.

Luke lies on his back and Alex is basically a koala - his arms are wrapped around his waist, his head on Luke’s chest with one leg swung over Luke’s. You see, the only place to sleep is either the couch or the floor and if one of them sleeps on the floor, they both do. So they share the couch. Yeah, he’s kinda stuck. But he doesn’t mind.

He’s been doing a lot thinking these days about what he wants, who he wants. He doesn’t quite understand himself and he chuckles quietly at himself, stroking Alex’s hair as he stirs but thankfully doesn’t wake. ‘People are usually either gay or straight - not both. I know I like girls but I think I like guys too? If that makes any sense.’ He sighs and shakes his head, attempting to banish all thoughts from his mind as he closes his eyes and tries to sleep.

He opens his eyes. So that didn’t work. 10 minutes later and he’s still awake and, more importantly, still thinking. Still thinking about how he might like boys. Still thinking about how he could get used to sleeping next to Alex. Still thinking about how pretty he looks when he laughs. Still thinking about- ‘Holy shit I have a crush on Alex.’

\----------

“Rise and shine sleepyheads.” Reggie shakes their shoulders, poking their cheeks fondly. Alex groans loudly and buries his face in Luke’s shoulder.  
“10 more minutes.” His voice comes through muffled by Luke’s shirt.  
“We already gave you 10 minutes.” Bobby kindly informs them, tossing an old shirt at them.  
“5 minutes then.”  
“Dude we have to rehearse.” Reggie picks up one of the pillows that fell on the floor and chaos ensues. He hits Alex with the pillow, shocking him back awake as he subsequently falls on the couch.  He looks up, annoyed and tired but damn cute in Luke’s opinion, and asks for a hand. When Reggie moves to help him up, he pulls him down, whacking him with his own pillow in retaliation. “Argh-! Luke- a little help here?”  
“Nah.” Luke gets up and picks up the polaroid camera that they bought. “Say cheese!” He takes a picture of the pair, Alex happily beating Reggie who throws up a peace sign for the camera.

He takes the picture and moves to the loft, keeping the image in the dark to develop. He sets the polaroid next to the other on the desk in the corner. ‘Wait, the other-?’ He picks it up gently and can’t help but smile. It’s him and Alex asleep. “Hey Reggie, d’you take this?” He holds up the polaroid and raises his eyebrows.  
“Maybe. You looked peaceful and I wanted proof that Alex is a cuddle monster so....”   
“Hey, what is it?”, Alex asks, changing his shirt. Luke bluescreens for a moment before snapping out of it and clearing his throat.  
“Oh, uh- it’s us asleep.”   
“Well that’s kinda creepy but okay.” Alex chuckles, sweeping his hair back and putting his cap on.  
“Right?” Luke laughs awkwardly, turning around and busying himself with the contents of the loft, his cheeks heating up.

He notices the sleeping bags he’d tuck away into a corner and flushes at the memory. ‘If Alex found them he would have insisted on using them and frozen to death.’ He tries to reason with himself and fails.

Walking down the ladder, he looks for his friends and frowns. “Guys?”   
“They went to get pizza - figured we could use breakfast.” Alex. He sips water and sits on the coffee table, Luke joining him. A silence came over them, only interrupted by brief throat clearing as they tried to figure out what to say. In the end, it was Luke who broke the silence.

“I know we’ve been sharing the couch but I found some sleeping bags so I’ll just use those-” Alex blushes at the mention of the bags and opens his mouth as if to say something but quickly shuts it.  
“I may have already known they were there….?” Alex mentions slowly, carefully picking his words.  
“Wait what-”   
“I swear I’m not being creepy- God I’m totally wiggin’ you out-” The boy holds his head in his hands, laughing uncomfortably.  
“No nonono-!” Luke swallows his laughter as well as he can. “Thing is, I’m the one who hid the sleeping bags.” Alex looks up and grins.   
“For real?”   
“Yeah.”

They smile and Alex looks at his friend. “Why?”   
“Huh?”   
“Why hide them?”   
“I wanted to sleep with you.” The boys’ faces go bright pink as Luke stammers out denials. “I mean next to you-! I wanted to sleep next to you.” Alex smiles happily, rocking side to side slightly. “What about you? How come you didn’t mention the bags?”   
“Maybe I also wanted to sleep next to you-”   
“You mean on top of me.” Luke pokes the boy’s side, laughing as he squirms.   
“Okay but that couch is not meant for two people.” Luke heavily falls onto said couch and sighs happily.  
“Maybe not but this couch is the bomb.” Luke smiles and closes his eyes, Alex watching him. It’s almost strange to see him like this. He doesn’t usually smile for real - he’ll laugh and puts on a smile but they’ve all seen the smile slip when he thinks they’re not watching. He was living his dream but they all knew it was fractured without the support of his parents. ‘He’s freakin’ cute when he smiles.’

“For real though? What does this all mean?” Alex gestures vaguely around them, Luke covering his face, his red ears however giving away his embarrassment.  
“I think I like you?” He looks over his arm and almost immediately covers it again as Alex looks at him with amused confusion.  
“You ‘think’?” Luke sits up and leans forward on his knees, looking down, focusing on his hands as he toys with worn patches in his jeans.  
“Look, I- I know I like girls. But sometimes guys are very hot too. And I don’t know how to feel about that.... But I know I like you.” He looks up, surprised at how shocked Alex looks. A moment passes. “This is part where you say something.” Alex whacks his shoulder lightly.   
“I know that- I just....”   
“Just don’t like me like that. I get it - it’s all cool dude-”   
“No, I do! I mean I think?” Luke looks up at Alex, his face scrunched in confusion.   
“I thought you were supposed to know this stuff-!”   
“Hey just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I’ve had a boyfriend before.” Luke smirks, his tongue peaking out from behind his teeth.  
“So you wanna be boyfriends then?” It was Alex’s turn again to blush, his neck slowly going pink.  
“What, no- I mean, yes? Maybe? I don’t know-”   
“You know you literally gave me every possible answer to that, right?” The cocky boy tilts his head in confusion at his cute friend.  
“Yeah.” Alex looks at him and shifts before leaning forwards and kissing his cheek. “I wanna be boyfriends- I mean, y’know, if you want that is-” Luke grins and bumps his forehead against his,  
“Yes, I do.” He stands up and kisses his forehead, walking towards the garage doors, mumbling to himself. “I have a boyfriend! Awesome!” He opens the doors with a flourish, Reggie falling in while Bobby looks between the two of them.

“We can explain-”, Bobby begins.  
“We got the pizza.” Reggie points to the boxes in Bobby’s hands. “Don’t worry - we weren’t listening.” Bobby kicks his leg lightly, Reggie making offended noises in return.  
“Congratulations?” Bobby hands Luke the pizza, patting Alex’s shoulders as he takes a slice. The boys sit around the table, Alex and Reggie on the couch and Luke and Bobby on the floor. “Okay,” Bobby swallows a bite of pizza, “one rule: no getting jiggy in the studio.” Luke sucks his finger and gives him a wet willy, Bobby whining and slapping his hand away. “We’re eating so that’s gross but I’m right and you know it.” Alex throws a pillow at him and reassures them that there will be no ‘getting jiggy’ in their studio.  
“And in general?”, Reggie asks, wiggling his eyebrows at them, Alex sighing and shaking his head.  
“There will be no getting jiggy- God-”

\----------

The rest of the day was spent rehearsing, Bobby and Reggie exchanging knowing looks at the way their lead singer and drummer stared at each other. It was another night of cuddles. It had been a good day. They were family - maybe not brothers - but they were family.


	2. Chapter 2

It’s still 1994 and things are going great. Alex and Luke still haven’t kissed but Alex spends almost every night with him. There’s hand holding, flirting and small dates. And they wouldn’t be Sunset Curve if Reggie and Bobby didn’t tease the living hell out of them. Their music was going great - cassettes were selling like mad and CDs were being made. Everything was great.

Almost.

It’s Thanksgiving. Luke’s first since he ran away. Alex’s first since he came out. Reggie had to go to some absurd family dinner and Bobby was the only one with a decent family life. It was just them.

Alex was laying down on the old couch, his head in Luke’s lap. He absentmindedly twiddles his drumming sticks, listening to Luke writing a new song. “And I can’t think of anything-” He slaps the sheets on the table, huffing as he tosses his beanie on the table. Alex gets up and kisses the crown of his head, “I gotta go do a thing - it’s a surprise so just gimme 20 minutes.” Luke tries to protest - tries and fails. “If it’s dumb, we don’t have to do it but just hear me out.”   
“Alright.” He nods, trusting Alex as he takes his drumming sticks from him.

\----------

“Coming in- close your eyes, Luke!” He grins and obliges, closing his eyes and listening to his boyfriend shuffling around. “Ta-da!” He opens his eyes and sees Alex smiling brightly. He notices the table, the usually empty table, covered in random Thanksgiving food. Turkey sandwiches, some store-bought turkey and mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie.

“Happy Thanksgiving.” Luke’s smile falls as he remembers the thing he was trying to avoid all day - his first Thanksgiving without his parents. “I know I should’ve asked if you even wanted to do Thanksgiving this year but I mean-” Alex cuts himself off and sits on the floor, the table between the two boys. “Your mom sent the pie.” Luke’s head shoots up, tears welling in his eyes.   
“My mom?”   
“She came over to my house, said she knew I wouldn’t tell her if I knew where you were but to have the pie anyway and, if I saw you, to make sure you had some.” A tear cuts a path down the singer’s face, Alex sitting next to him and bringing him into a tight hug as the rest come crashing down, Luke’s hands clutching his shoulders. “I just miss her-”   
“I know. And she misses you too.” Luke looks up at him.   
“Am I being selfish? I know how much she loves me but I just don’t know how to live somewhere I know I won’t be able to do the one thing that makes me happy. Is that wrong?” Alex wipes the tears from his face. “No. Eventually you have to live your life for yourself. Parents love you and we’ll always be their babies but we’re not always gonna be babies and that they tend to forget. You are not selfish for wanting to live your life by your own terms.” He holds his boyfriend’s face in his hands, watching the tears dry on his face, wishing he could somehow make things better.  
“Really?” Luke whispers, his voice hoarse.   
“Really.” Alex leans his forehead against his and gives him a small smile. It only grows at Luke’s fond chuckles.

“We should say what we’re thankful for.” Luke bumps their foreheads affectionately, turning back to the food and admiring his boyfriend’s efforts. “I’m thankful for family - my mom and dad,” he looks back to Alex, “you and Reggie and Bobby. I’m thankful for our music. I’m thankful for my dorky boyfriend who made Thanksgiving a lot less painful than it would have been if I was alone.” Alex laughs and clasps his hands mockingly.   
“I’m thankful for our food, our band and my equally dorky boyfriend. Amen?” Luke snorts and shakes his head.  
“You don’t need to say Amen?”   
“We don’t usually say anything at Thanksgiving so cut me some slack.”   
“Alright, alright. Can we have dessert first?” He looks over at the pie, looking at Alex hopefully.   
“Well I mean that doesn’t really fit the schedule but sure.” He replies sarcastically, smiling and shuffling the things around, moving the pie in front of Luke and passing him a fork and plate. He takes a big bite and moans quietly. “It tastes like home-” He pauses, sets the plate down and moves to the floor, kneeling down on one knee and pressing a soft kiss to Alex’s lips. The drummer freezes, making Luke quickly jump back. “Sorry- I just really wanted to do that; I should’ve asked first or-”   
“Just warn me next time.” Alex cuts him off and clumsily returns the kiss, smiling against his mouth. Luke went rigid before relaxing, melting into the kiss, the kiss that quickly turned into a clumsy makeout session. The food was forgotten, the boys solely focused on each other, giggling between kissing. “This is literally my first time kissing anyone-”, Alex breathes out, the taste of pumpkin lingering on his lips as he presses another kiss to Luke’s pink lips. “Unless you count that time Stacy Newman kissed me when we were 6-”   
“Yeah, that doesn’t count.” Luke grins and kisses him again, completely smitten for the blond.

“Ahem.” Reggie and Bobby stand by the now open doors of the studio, Bobby with his hands stuffed in his pocket and Reggie with his waistcoat over his shoulder, his bowtie hanging at his collars. “Having fun?” Luke scrambles to stand up, giving Alex a hand, their lips swollen and cheeks flushed.  
“Yes.” Reggie grins and puts his hand out, Bobby handing him $20.  
“Wait, you guys bet on us?” Luke looks equal parts offended and amused.  
“Bobby said you’d skip Thanksgiving year - I said you’d end up making out.” Alex looks smug as Luke gives him $10.  
“Wait what-?” Bobby tilts his head in confusion, shutting the doors and joining Reggie on the couch.  
“I bet that you guys bet on us. Luke thought you wouldn’t.”  
“I was wrong so thanks guys.”  
“You’re welcome.” Reggie smiles and steals some mashed potato. “Happy Thanksgiving, Sunset Curve!” He raises his fork in the air, the boys taking their forks and bringing them together.  
“Happy Thanksgiving!” Luke and Alex share another kiss, Bobby complaining goodnaturedly in the background.  
“What happened to ‘no getting jiggy in the studio’?”


	3. Chapter 3

It’s 1995, Luke and Alex have been together over a year and things are not going well.

“They literally hit you last time you went back! You can’t-”   
“They’re my family- even if I wanted to skip it, which I don’t,” Alex adds pointedly, glaring at his boyfriend, “it’s my gran’s funeral! I can’t just-” Luke grasps his hands, worry etched all over his face.  
“And if they don’t let you come back? To us- to me?”

Reggie and Bobby watch them argue from the couch, wondering whether to remind them of the time. It had been going on for 20 minutes at this point and the funeral was in another 15.

Alex gently moves out of Luke’s reach, grabbing his tie and putting it on as he leaves. “I’m going - I’ll be back - I don’t know when so don’t wait up.” The door slams shut behind him, effectively cutting off Luke who swallows hard, Alex’s words echoing in his ears.

_ “I don’t need you to baby me. I know what I’m getting into - I lived with them for almost 16 years and had to deal with their crap. Whatever happens, I can handle it. I swear you didn’t do this when we weren’t dating-” _ _   
_ _ “What’s that supposed to mean?” _ _   
_ _ “I mean, you are one of the best friends I’ve ever had but this is what we’re gonna be together, people who don’t trust each other to make the right choices for ourselves, then maybe friends is all we should be.” _

Luke falls heavily on to the couch, his words looping in his head.

“Luke?” Bobby speaks softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?” He forces a smile, gulping as his voice breaks.  
“Yeah- yeah, I’m fine.” Reggie frowns, his eyebrows furrowed with worry as he takes one of his hands in his own.  
“Luke?” His smile wobbles and falls, tears slowly following.  
“I think Alex just broke up with me-” He sinks into his couch and covers his face with a pillow, chuckling bitterly, sniffling as he wipes his face. “I’m fine. I- I’ll be fine.” He smiles, the smile looking more like a grimace, trying to get up only to have Bobby and Reggie pull him down. “Bottling your emotions isn’t gonna help, dude.” Bobby sits to his right, his hand on the pained boy’s knee. A muffled sob sounds from behind the pillow. Reggie, not knowing what else to do pulls Luke into a hug, Bobby wrapping his arms around them both. They sit there in silence for who knows how long, Luke’s practised silent sobs inaudible as his shoulders shake.

Luke sniffles and sits up. “How obvious is it that this is my first real relationship- and breakup?”   
“You can barely tell-” Bobby smiles and throws his arm over his shoulders. “Maybe you just watched Edward Scissorhands. Always makes you cry.” He laughs weakly and wipes his tears, leaning heavily on Reggie.  
“You think I’m being too dramatic?”   
“Hell no.” Reggie pokes his sides, grinning as he squirms and bats his hand away. “If girls get to cry over their breakups, then so do we. And hey, look on the bright side: at least you’ll still be friends. Nothing’s gonna change that.”   
“True - maybe one day we’ll even laugh about that time we used to date.”   
“But not today?”   
“Oh no - no, today I spend crying.” He smiles tiredly and closes his eyes. “Is it bad I can’t sleep properly without him anymore?”   
“You two are disgustingly cute, y’know that?” Bobby shakes his head, avoiding smiles.   
“Yeah, I guess we were.” The smile slips off his face as he remembers sleepy late night talks about how they’d buy a house and all move in together when they got rich and famous. “The fights, they’d been happening more often now but I thought we were gonna get past them, y’know?” He twists one of his rings absentmindedly. “I don’t care what happens - if we stay together or not - I’m not gonna let him go so quickly. We’re sticking together - all of us.” He looks between the boys, swinging his arms over their shoulders. “You are all stuck with me for eternity.”   
“But what if you die?” Bobby asks, elbowing him lightly making Luke elbow him back   
“Then I will haunt you. Not even dying will keep Sunset Curve apart.” Reggie stands up and claps loudly.  
“Okay, time to make a pact: if all but one of us die, we have to haunt him.” Reggie puts his pinkies out.  
“We’re pinkie swearing it?” Luke looks up at him dubiously.   
“If we break the pact, you get to keep my pinkie.”   
“Gross-” Bobby grimaces but links pinkies with him anyways, Luke caving and doing the same.   
“Dork.”

\----------

The funeral was over. It was a simple service but nice. Well, nice when you can ignore the families’ disapproving looks shot in your direction.

Alex fiddles with his chain as he walks back home, his mind still thinking back to this afternoon. He didn’t mean to say it - it sort of just came out. He doesn’t want to break up obviously. But if they’re just gonna keep fighting- He gnaws on his lip, stopping outside the doors of the studio, freezing when he hears a voice. ‘Luke.’ A sad smile creeps onto his face as he remembers how they celebrated their anniversary.

_ “One whole year!” Luke was practically jumping up and down, his grin infectious. Alex was blushing and smiling just as brightly. They had breakfast in ‘bed’ meaning they had badly made French toast on the sofa and went to the ice rink, completely ignoring everyone’s strange as they attempted to skate, the pair of them slipping and falling every two seconds. They cursed loudly and laughed even louder, slipping and sliding as they made their way off the ice after two hours of painful fun. _

_ “Home sweet home- wha-” Alex was cut off by hands covering his eyes. _ _   
_ _ “Happy anniversary babe.” Luke whispered in his ear, smile evident in his voice as he rested his chin on Alex’s shoulder. Alex heard the doors open and the hands were gone, holding his own instead. Candles, roses and dinner laid out beautifully, Reggie and Bobby winking at them as they leave. “Remember the rule-” _ _   
_ _ “Bye Bobby.” Luke cut him off and waved. “And thank you!” He whispered, turning back to his boyfriend, his bottom lip tucking between his teeth as he grinned. “So what d’you think?” Alex was stunned silent but broke from his stupour. “This is for me-?” _ _   
_ _ “No, it’s for my other boyfriend who lives with me in our studio. Yes, this is for you-” Luke teased him, squeezing his hand tightly.   
And if it turned out I’d also planned something?” He countered, raising his eyebrows at him.  
“Then we can do that next year.” Alex looked at him and leaned down, kissing him deeply.   
You are literally one of the best things to have happened to me-” _ _   
_ _ “So that’s a yes on next year?” _ _   
_ _ “Definitely.” _

He knocks on the door, walking in as the room falls silent. “Guys, can we have a minute?” Alex looks between them, still fondling his chain. They made their excuses and left, Reggie throwing a supportive smile Luke’s way.

It was just them again. Like when they got together. Like Thanksgiving. Like their next anniversary should be.

“Luke-”   
“You were right.” Alex stares at him, dumbstruck. He was going to apologise, take it all back and try and fix it. “I was pushing too far - I know how strong you are. And we fight all the time. I want to live with you and sleep next to you and hold you when you want me to,” Luke swallows hard, avoiding Alex’s tear brimmed eyes, “but I don’t want us to be together if all we’re gonna do is fight.” The finality of his statement burned through the room, the silence that came after, deafening. “So what now?”   
“Now? Now we keep going - dating or not, I love you and I’m gonna be here to annoy you whenever you need me to.” Alex rolls his eyes and smiles ruefully, trying not to cry. “I’m always gonna be here for you. We were bandmates before boyfriends and we’re still bandmates. And obviously,” he pulls Alex down onto the couch with him, “the couch is yours too.” Luke smiles, hugging Alex as he breathes slowly. “Crying doesn’t make you any less strong.” He whispers and presses his forehead against his, watching the hot tears stream down the drummer’s cheeks, hating that he’s the reason he’s in pain. “I’m sorry-”   
“Don’t be.” Alex smiles, tears still glistening against his skin. “Remember Thanksgiving? Live your life by your terms and us dating isn’t right for you then that’s that. Don’t be sorry - we’re still family, even if we’re not boyfriends.”


	4. Chapter 4

It’s still 1995 and things are weird again.

Luke and Alex are great, sometimes a little awkward but that might be because they both have a lot of blackmail material from when they were dating. Bobby turned vegetarian a couple of months ago and Reggie is questioning his existence.

‘I’m 17 - I should be going on random dates with cute girls and instead I am in here every night. I choose band practise over dates every night and it is never because of the music-” He groans and flops onto the couch, his bass and leather jacket laying on the small table next to him. “Hey man.” Luke comes up to him, patting his back. “You good?”   
“Yeah- yeah, just tired.” His voice comes out muffled, his face buried in the pillows.   
“Let’s call it a night, guys.” The singer calls out to the other boys, their responses also tired but thankful.   
“I love you guys and all but I’m tired so bye!” Bobby grins and leaves, waving slightly as he shuts the door behind him.   
“I think I’m also gonna head home.” Alex sets his drum sticks down, pulling his jacket on as Reggie looks up at him, at him and Luke  
“You sure?”   
“Yeah. My cousins are staying with us for a while and I am not the only gay cousin so I can’t just leave her on her own.” Luke nods and smiles, kissing his forehead.   
“Stay safe.”   
“Always.”

Something about seeing Luke and Alex so close made Reggie’s stomach twist, almost as if it hurt. ‘Oh God- I hope I’m not homophobic- maybe I could tell them? No, definitely not.’ He shakes his head hard, as if trying to throw the thoughts out of his head. “Reggie?” He looks up and jumps, Luke suddenly standing close to him, Alex having already left. “Okay, seriously dude, what is going on with you?”   
“Nothing- why would you think there’s something going on with me-?”   
“Because your voice just went really high pitched like when it does when you’re lying.” Luke sits on the couch next to him, sitting up straight and looking the bassist in the eye.  “Talk to me Reg. What’s wrong? Is it a home thing because I swear, if he touched you, I’ll-”   
“I think I’m homophobic-!” Reggie blurts out, effectively cutting off Luke's touching rambling.   
“Huh-?”   
“Never mind- just ignore that. Gotta go bye-!” He moves to leave, Luke gripping his arms and pulling him back down. Reggie flushes and sits back down, loosening himself from Luke’s hold, his arms tingling where he touched him. “Yeah, no you’re not. Explain.” Reggie gapes like a fish, trying to figure out how to tell his best friend that he makes him uncomfortable- “Okay so, I just- I don’t like this feeling alright- I wanna get rid of it.” He swallows and licks his chapped lips, his hands moving to his beaded necklace. “I hate how pissed I get when I see you two together- like, I know you’re not together anymore but it literally makes my stomach hurt. I don’t want you guys to get back together and I don’t know if it’s homophobia but I just don’t want you guys getting hurt again either because you guys are my family and sometimes I look at you and think ‘aw cute’ but then I remember how much pain you were in and I just- I don’t want you to be in that kinda pain ever again. I mean- I don’t know. I don’t know what I mean, man- my head hurts.”

Luke looks at the boy carefully as he holds his head in his hands, muttering angrily at himself. “I don’t think you’re homophobic Reggie-” He shoots up, now silent.   
“Then what-?”   
“I think you’re jealous.”   
“But I’m not even into guys.”   
“How did you feel back when we were actually dating?”   
“I was happy for you guys-” Luke cuts him off, waving his hand.   
“Not for us. How did you feel for you?”   
“I don’t-” Reggie’s voice wavered. “I was upset- that I couldn’t be a part of that, that I wouldn’t be able to have something like that.” He breathes heavily, his hands behind his head as he tries to process things. “I was jealous, of Alex- and y'know of you.” He stands up and pulls his jacket on. “I- I need time, to, uh, figure out what this means for me. I'll see you later Luke.” He puts his guitar away and leaves a bewildered Luke behind as he leaves.

The door shuts heavily behind him as he pauses for a moment, breathing heavily and squeezing his eyes shut, trying to force back his tears. “What the fuck is going on-?” He asks himself as he keeps going, accidentally bumping into Alex.  
“Hey, sorry-” Alex pauses as he notices Reggie’s state. “Hey, are you okay?”   
“Fine - thanks and sorry-”, he murmured, leaving as quickly as possible and wiping away stray tears.

Alex walks back into the studio only to find a silent, very worried Luke. “Luke, what’s going on? Reggie was crying outside-” He picks up his previously forgotten fanny pack, still focused on Luke.  
“I don’t know man. I think we just need to give him some time. He'll tell us when he's comfortable.”   
“Sometimes people forget that they have friends to lean on though- we should be there for him, for whatever he needs.”   
“And we can’t decide what he needs. He asked for time so we’ll give it.”


	5. Chapter 5

It’s still 1995 and things are still weird.

Reggie hasn’t been home in weeks and the band are getting worried. He still gives his laundry in back at his own place but he doesn’t come to rehearsals anymore, his bass sat unused in its place.

_ “Reggie, when will you come back home~?” Bobby sang loudly, no clear tune in his impromptu song. “Luke is turning into a dad and I need you here with us~ It’s time to get back together and take down Rome~ Oh Reggie, won’t you come back home~” Luke threw a screwed up piece of paper at his head, his random strumming ceasing. Alex picked up the discarded sheet, reading the song draft, his face falling when he read the lyrics: _

_ It’s been so long since I last saw you  
_ _ I still remember when I last saw you  
_ _ The painful fights, the endless nights  
_ _ Do you need me the way I need you? _

_  
Is it my fault that you’re gone?  
_ _ Do you still see the same dawn?  
_ _ Or are you somewhere new?  
_ _ Do you see me the way I see you?  
_ _ Or are we strangers?  
_ _ Forever remainders of some lost life  
_ _ Perfect strangers filled with strife  
_ _ Oh what is this lost life? _

_ I still remember when you came to me  
_ _ Still remember when the tears were so easy to see  
_ _ But not for long, no  
_ _ Yeah, you learnt to cry without a sound  
_ _ Learnt to laugh and stand your ground  
_ _ You were strong (strong)  
_ _ Stronger than you’d ever been with me _

_ The page was covered in random scribbles, words changed over and over till eventually the page was scrapped. He carefully straightened it out and tucked it into his pocket.  _ _ It might not have been his to read but he couldn’t let anyone find it. It was personal, intimate, uninhibited. _

Bobby twangs his guitar tunelessly, staring at the door. “Think it’ll be today?”   
“I don’t know Bobby.” Luke sits cross-legged on the floor, tuning his guitar again.

Alex runs into the room, the door slamming shut behind him, making the boys jump as he braces himself against the wall, his breaths coming out in wheezes as he tries to talk. “He’s-” He cuts himself off as he coughs heavily, unable to breathe properly. He sinks to the floor, Luke rushing to his side as Bobby looks everywhere for his inhaler.  
“Where’s that goddamn bag-? Bobby, hurry!” He holds his hand tightly.

The door bangs shut as another body scrambles next to Alex. Reggie. He takes the spare inhaler out of his bag, taking their makeshift spacer from Bobby, passing it over to Alex. He breathes deeply, puffing the inhaler twice, breathing in and out. The boys relax when he gives them a thumbs up. “Of all the times you had to lose your bag-” Luke leans his head against the wall. He points at his drums, Bobby tilting his head and checking it out. He emerges holding Alex’s fanny bag in his hand. “It was under the stool-” He raises his hands, trying to defend himself as Luke glares tiredly at him.

“I’m only gone for a few weeks and you almost killed Alex?” Alex passes the inhaler to Luke and engulfs Reggie in a tight hug, pulling back and punching his arm hard.  
“I get you needed your space you could at least let us know if you’re dead or alive.”   
“Good to have you back man.” Bobby passes him his guitar ceremoniously, throwing him a wink. “Also, you did not know that was there.” Reggie beams and takes his instrument, cradling it reverently.  
“I know where everything in this place is. You keep an epipen in your guitar case in case you somehow end up near a peanut. And I keep spare inhalers and epipens in my backpack,” he says, patting his trusty bag, “in case you ever lose yours.”   
“I’m so glad you're rich.” The guitarists fist bump, Luke and Alex sharing an amused look.

Reggie looks over at them, a strange twinge in his chest. Not jealousy but something. Something he still didn't understand. “Guys, I need to talk to Luke.” Alex stands up, dragging Bobby out with him by his arm, the brunet giving them both a thumbs up.

Reggie smiles and shuffles over, his back against the wall and shoulder pressed against the lead singer’s. “I missed you guys.” He murmurs, avoiding looking at Luke and instead fiddling with the sleeves of the plaid shirt tied around his waist.  
“Did you figure it all out?” Luke swings an arm over his shoulders, smiling as he allows himself to be drawn closer to him.  
“Still have no clue about anything.” He looks up and purses his lips. “Not being with you guys hurt though, like I’m used to not being with my parents but you guys are my family. I need you guys.” A smile spreads across Luke’s face, as he presses a soft kiss to his head.  
“We missed you too.” ‘More than you know.’   
“As long as I live, Sunset Curve will not break up.” Reggie laughs quietly, thinking back. “And if I die, I get to haunt you guys won’t be rid of either way.”   
“Like we’d have it any other way.” Luke shakes his head, scoffing quietly. “Dork.”


	6. Chapter 6

Still 1995. But things are better. The boys finally got their big break: they’re set to play at the Orpheum.

“Now or never~!” They finish the song, giving their very small audience a bow, the waitress whooping. It was their last sound check before the actual concert in two hours. For the biggest night of their lives, it was surprisingly normal. Their music was awesome, Reggie used one of the worst pickup lines known to man and they went for food. After tonight, their lives will never be the same again.

“This is awesome, you guys.” Luke shakes his head in disbelief, the boys sitting with him on an old sofa, hotdogs in each of their hands. “We’re playing the Orpheum!” The boys beam at him, still buzzing with excitement. “I can’t even count how many bands have played here and then ended up being huge.” He leans back on the sofa, Reggie chuckling at his excitement. ‘God, he’s adorable-’ “We’re gonna be legends.”, he announces matter-of-factly. “Eat up, boys, ‘cause after tonight, everything changes.” They cheer with their hotdogs and each take big bites. Alex looks down at his food strangely, licking mustard off his lip.  
“That’s a new flavour.”, he remarks, his mouth full, the others still contentedly eating.   
“Chill, man. Streetdogs haven’t killed us yet.” Reggie defends his food, the boys shrugging and tucking in.

They relax after finishing their food, leaning against each other and talking about what they’d do when they’re famous.

Alex takes a deep breath and shuffles uncomfortably, groaning. “Okay, I think those dogs might have been bad.” He coughs and hisses as he falls off the old sofa, landing heavily on the floor.  
“Guys- guys, I can’t feel my arms-” Reggie pants, barely shuffling but whimpering regardless. His arms fall to his sides as he forces himself to raise them a few inches. Luke’s breathing speeds up as he tries to call out.  
“Help-” His voice comes out as a weak croak. “Help-!” He yells as loud as he can, which, unfortunately for them, wasn’t very loud.

All he can do is watch as Alex struggles for breath and Reggie forces himself to stay conscious. He slips in and out of reality as he sees people hurry towards them. Bobby and the waitress. Rose. Bobby calls 911, talking to them hurriedly but the boys can’t hear him not really. “Help-” Luke mumbles incoherently, Rose slapping his cheek lightly.   
“Stay awake, all of you.” She shakes Reggie, relieved at his small groans. Kneeling next to Alex, she splashes his face with water, passing the bottle back to Bobby when he doesn’t respond. “He’s not breathing-” She lays him down and starts chest compressions, Bobby crying as he updates the paramedics who were running up to them. Luke sees him waving frantically, sees Rose giving Alex mouth to mouth before a paramedic resumes chest compressions for her, sees someone go to Reggie. He feels himself being lifted onto a stretcher, Alex and Reggie also lifted onto their own, Alex’s face covered with a white sheet. He feels his chest seize up and then nothing. He can’t feel anything.  He stands up and sees himself lying there. He’s not moving. He looks around, waving his hands wildly in front of the paramedics’ faces. “Hey! Hey, I’m still here-” He looks around panickedly, accidentally falling through the doors and out of the ambulance, Reggie and Alex running up to him.

He scrambles up right, looking between them and pulling them into a fierce hug. “You were dead- you were dead, how are you-” He cries as he meets Bobby’s eye, the boy unable to see him. He buries his face into Rose’s shoulder as he sobs, her rubbing his back comfortingly, tears streaming down her own face. Then there was nothing. Nothing for any of them.

\----------

“Guys?! Guys, where are you?!” Reggie yells, staring into empty blackness. He looks down and finds he can somehow still see himself, the boys apparently lost to him.  
“Reggie?! Alex?! Guys, where are you?!” He hears Luke shout, his voice echoing from every direction. Reggie runs forward, trying to follow Luke’s voice but can’t. He walks forward but despite every step, it’s like he hadn’t even moved.  
“Alex?! Where are you?!” He listens for his voice but can’t hear anything.

\----------

“Luke?! Reggie!” Alex yells into the abyss, falling to the apparent ground. There wasn’t really a floor, or walls or ceiling. Only Alex.  
“Alex?!” He looks back and forth.   
“Luke! Where are you?! Where’s Reggie?!”   
“Reggie is here. Same as you.”, Reggie remarks dryly. Alex turns his head frantically, looking for said boy. “It’s no use; doesn’t matter how far we run, we end up in the same place. We can hear each other but we can’t see each other.” Reggie was always the optimistic one of the four- the now three. It hurt them to hear him sound so defeated. Hot tears prick at Alex’s eyes as he thinks: thinks about how he might never get to see his friends again, about how he’ll never get to fall in love or play music with his family- He weeps quietly, hugging his knees, Reggie and Luke falling silent as they think of how to help him.

He looks up and sees the worried boys frowning. He jumps up and hugs Reggie and Luke, the boys jumping out of their skins. “I can see you-! I can see you guys!”   
“Alex?” They look around, Alex’s face crumpling as he realises they still can’t see him. He watches as they sit down, Alex falling gracelessly and sitting with them, leaning heavily on them. His mind whirs as tears fall, Reggie closing his eyes and taking measured breaths like he usually does when he doesn’t want to cry. And they just sit there. For how long, they don’t know; when you don’t need to sleep or eat, time just becomes one long journey with no real measurements. They were in pain but they’d be okay. Even if they couldn’t see each other, they could still feel Alex leaning on them, could still hear whenever someone sniffled. They were together, even after death.


	7. Chapter 7

It’s still dark. Alex is still crying and the boys are about to lose their minds. They would speak up every now and again, trying to remind them that they were still together despite everything.

Then there it was. Their song. The music fills their ears, deafening them. They stand up only to find the floor no longer under their feet. And then they were falling, flashes of light blinding them after so long in darkness, their screams drowning out the song.

They hit the ground heavily, grunts of pain escaping them as Reggie groans loudly, Luke gasping for breath as Alex pulls his cap back on. They stand and turn, looking around in surprise at their old studio. “Whoa! How did we get back here?” Luke pants only to be cut off by loud screaming. They turn and see a girl- a screaming girl-?! How in hell is there someone there- They scream in response, jumping in surprise at seeing another person in God only knows how long. She continues screaming as she runs away, the boys still holding each other.

“What the heck-” Reggie exhales deeply, studying the room intensely but wishing he was at the pier and that this was all one long nightmare. One moment he was here then he’s there - Santa Monica Pier.

\----------

Luke and Alex look around, wondering where the hell Reggie went. “Reggie!” They shout and grumble, wondering how on Earth he disappeared, wishing to hell they were with him. And then they were. They gaped at the bright lights, shivering as people walked through them.

“Dude,” Alex stares at the swarm of people, holding onto Luke and Reggie, “we’re ghosts.”  
“What happened to the pier-?” Luke walks across the boardwalk slowly, taking in his surroundings in confusion. “We need to get back, to that girl who can see us. Maybe she knows what’s happening.”

They close their eyes and poof back into the garage, finding the curly haired girl with her backs to them. “.... saw something. I’m not crazy.”, she says to herself, lowering her cross to her side.  
“Well, we’re all a little crazy.” Luke responds playfully making the girl turn around in surprise, screaming again and pointing her cross at them. The boys jump and raise their hands defensively.  
“Oh my God! Please stop screaming!” Alex yells back, a hand over his ear. She quickly closes her mouth, the cross still aimed at them.

Once the screaming ceased, they tried to explain their situation to her, about how they were just ghosts who were very glad to be home. Reggie was very happy at being called a cute ghost and they were all so confused about having been dead for an apparent 25 years. Then finding out they could still play? Even though no one could see them, it was pretty amazing knowing that people could still hear their music and see them when they performed with the girl with the curly hair. Julie Molina.

She was special. She couldn’t see all ghosts but she could see them and because of her, people could see them. She saved them from so much, from themselves and from Caleb Covington. She saved them somehow, helped them play the Orpheum. They don’t know how they survived Caleb’s stamp or why they didn’t move on but they were so glad to still be with her.

Alex has Willie and Luke has Julie. And Reggie? Reggie…. has himself?

It’s 2020 and things couldn’t get any better. Or worse. Reggie can’t really tell some days. Thankfully, it’s currently the former.

Reggie has once again stolen Carlos’ laptop, researching Pride after hearing about it from Flynn. His eyes widen as he scrolls through page after page. He beams and runs into the studio, taking the laptop with him and completely forgetting that if Ray walks by, he’ll see the floating laptop. Oh well.

“Luke! Luke, Luke Luke! Check this out!” He plonks himself next to Luke, flushing when he leans in close to see the screen properly. “It’s, uh- it’s a load of stuff about Pride and like, there’s a bunch of names and stuff for different people and I, uh, I think I figured it out. Me, I mean. I think I figured me out.” He avoids Luke’s proud look as he flushes and scrolls down the page. “I think that’s me. ‘Bi is an umbrella term used to describe a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards more than one gender.’ Fun fact: my parents refused to let me know that bisexuality was a thing so this,” he points excitedly at the screen, “is awesome.” Luke shoots up and takes the laptop from Reggie, ignoring his offended ‘hey-!’.  
“Wait, there are names for this stuff-?”  
“Well, yeah, what did you think I came to tell you?”  
“That you finally admit you like guys.” He grins, staring at the screen intently as he reads through the definitions. “Everyone has a name, there’s one for everything.”  
"Wait, did you not know-?” Luke looks up at Reggie, flabbergasted.  
“Wait, you did-?” He looks offended, pouting slightly as he continues reading.  
“My parents didn’t want me knowing so I obviously had to know what it was. I just didn’t know I was it.” He slouches, watching how Luke’s eyes sparkle at this new world.  
“I mean, I knew people were cooler with all this stuff but like it’s a whole thing! We have names and flags and- holy shit, this is wicked!”

“Language.” Julie sits at the piano, reading through some songs she and Luke were working on.  
“Sorry-” The boy grins sheepishly, Julie and Reggie chuckling at how cute he was. “But this is awesome. I like this one, look: ‘pan refers to a person whose romantic and/or sexual attraction to others is not limited by sex or gender’. I think that’s me.” He glances back at Reggie, smiling widely as Julie shakes her head fondly at them. “Hey, check this out.” Reggie rests his chin on Luke’s shoulder, looking at the screen and ignoring his burning cheeks. “‘Polyamory refers to the practise of, or desire for, intimate relationships with more than one partner, with the informed consent of all parties involved’. There’s a name for that-?” He stares, entranced.

“Is that a thing? With you, I mean?” Julie sets the song book down, watching the boys intently.  
“When I was 16, I had a crush on this girl-”  
“Oh, Marlene-!” Reggie laughs quietly as he remembers his friend’s pining.  
“-and I used to think that we would be cute together but I thought that she and Doug-”  
“Her boyfriend at the time.” Reggie adds helpfully, winking at Julie’s amused smile.  
“-that they looked cute together. And I was just like ‘are you supposed to think you’d look cute with your crush and her boyfriend’ and then a year later, I realised I had a crush on Marlene and Doug so….” He trails off, blushing at the pair’s smitten looks. “What?”  
“You’re just…. cute when you’re excited.”  
“This makes sense to be excited about! There’s names - names that anyone can find just by searching it - that’s awesome!” He’s practically bouncing as Alex and Willie poof into the room.

“Hey.” Alex looks at Luke, raising an eyebrow. “He looks like that time he had 6 packets of Fun Dip-”  
“He’s got Pride fever.” Julie explains, grinning. “He joined the pan squad.” Luke squints at her, tilting his head.  
“I joined a squad-?”  
“I’m pan too.” She continues, jumping at the boys overlapping questions about why she didn’t tell them. “I thought I mentioned it?”  
“Yeah, no - I would’ve remembered that.” Luke shakes his head in confusion.  
“I told Willie.”  
“Before your own bandmates-?” Reggie seems almost offended.  
“You can’t even see Willie.” Luke points out, his arms crossed.  
“Pen and paper.”

Alex turns to Willie. “How come you didn’t tell me?”  
“I was supposed to out your friend?”  
“Okay, fair enough. In which case, thank you for not telling me.” Willie chuckles at his strange not-boyfriend-but-more-than-a-friend.  
“You are the weirdest ghosts I’ve ever met.”  
“That’s fair.” Reggie nods, poofing into the corner when Carlos storms into the studio.

“Stop stealing my computer, man.” He whines, taking the device from Luke who gapes, whining when he turns the tabs off. “They’re your ghosts, they can steal your laptop.” He points at Julie, the young girl nodding seriously as she fights off a smile. “See ya later- or not- boy band!”, he calls out, leaving as Julie and her phantoms burst into laughter.


	8. Chapter 8

It’s been a long day. Halloween is almost here and Flynn is raving.

“So we gotta get our costumes, matching, obviously. Oooh, maybe the boys can come as ghosts-!” She jumps up and down on Julie’s bed, it’s owner shaking her head.   
“They’re supposed to be from Sweden, remember?”   
“Oh, right.” She sat still, playing with Julie’s mic. “Your doodles are awesome - do the boys draw too?” Julie raises her eyebrows at her best friend,   
“Do you have a crush on them?”   
“Les-be honest,” Flynn wiggles her eyebrows, “you’re the only one with a crush on any of em.”  Flynn still doesn’t know about Julie and Luke, Julie still trying to figure out how to tell her bestfriend that she’s dating a ghost.

“Julie has a crush?” Reggie saunters into the room and flops onto the bed next to them. “Do tell.”   
“I don’t have a crush!” She lightly pushes his shoulder, Flynn looking confused.   
“Which one-?”   
“Reggie’s here.” She points to the seemingly empty space on her bed, Reggie waving goodnaturedly despite the fact that Flynn still can’t see him. “He’s waving.” She grins and waves at thin air. The bassist turns back to Julie.  
“So what’s going on?”   
“Flynn here,” she gives the girl a pointed look, “thinks I have a crush on one of you guys. I told her I don’t-” Reggie and Flynn share a knowing look despite her not being able to see him. “-I mean isn’t there some sort of unofficial rule about bandmates dating?”   
“Boy, I hope not-” Julie blinks at him, slightly shocked.   
“Wait, did any of you guys date-?” He sits up, glancing between the girls suspiciously.   
“Are you winding me up or did you really not know?”   
“Know what?”   
“That they used to date.” Julie slowly moves her gaze over to Flynn.   
“Apparently Luke and Alex used to date?” Julie fills her in, the lesbian punching the air.   
“I called it!”   
  


“Wait, you said used to? Why did they break up?” The girls stare at him expectantly, the boy raising his hands in defence of himself.   
“That is their business whether they tell you or not. But,” he jumps off the bed and moves towards the door, “I do have a bunch of polaroids from when they were dating.” She follows suit, grabbing Flynn’s hand and dragging her with them.   
“Lead the way!”   
“The way to where?”   
“Memory lane.” Julie grins and squeezes her hand, the girl not understanding her but going along with it anyways.

“Ta-da~!” Reggie brings the old box, down from the loft, setting it on their old table. Flynn creates a groove in the dust and wipes her dirty finger down in disgust.  
“This seems cool but my mom needed me home an hour ago. And remember, we’re matching this Halloween, alright? I’m thinking the creepy twins from The Shining. Or maybe we’ll be Ghost Busters.”   
“Hey!” Reggie complains to deaf ears as she smirks and walks out, waving goodbye.   
“I’ll think about it.”

She turns back to the pouting ghost and pats his knee. “We won’t bust you guys.”   
“I know, I know.” He shakes his head and turns back to the box, blowing the dust away as best as he can while Julie coughs in the background. “Pros of being dead: we don’t actually need to breathe so dust doesn’t make us cough either.” She continues coughing and glares at him, the boy quickly avoiding her gazing and opening the box.

“Aww, check these out.” He picks up some old pictures, smiling nostalgently. He shows them to Julie, watching as she smiles at the boys’ goofing off.   
“This is you guys and Trevor- Bobby?”   
“Yeah, Christmas, 1994.”

_ “All I want for Christmas is you~” Bobby sang along cheerfully to the song on the radio, taping mistletoe to the strings criss-crossed across the studio. The plant was all over the room, inescapable. _

_ “Seriously, dude?” Luke walked into the studio, Alex and Reggie close on his heels. _ _   
_ _ “If you’re gonna live in my garage, I get to decorate.” Alex groaned as Reggie whooped quietly, grabbing their camera and taking pictures of the bizarre decor. Bobby stopped the other boys in their tracks, pointing up above their heads. Mistletoe. “Seriously-” Alex stared at the rhythm guitarist with disbelief, only to be met with complete seriousness. The boys blushed as they met in a sweet kiss, Luke’s hand on Alex’s jaw, the taller boy resting his hand on the shorter’s waist. Bobby and Reggie cheered teasingly, the bassist capturing the moment in a picture. _

“They were, like, together-together, huh?”   
“Bobby and I had a bet that they’d be engaged before they were 20.” Julie raises her eyebrows, cooing quietly.   
“And then you didn’t even live till 20.” Reggie side-eyes Julie goodnaturedly, gasping in mock-offence.   
“We died, Julie- that’s not something you joke about-” She puts her hands in defence, checking out the other pictures.

“Hey, you guys looked cute here.” She shows him a picture, the boys sat on Luke’s couch, Reggie taking a selfie with the four of them. They were grinning widely, Julie chuckling as she finds its sequel.

_ “Alright, I’m taking another-!” Reggie warned the band as he raised the polaroid camera. Bobby swung an arm over Alex’s shoulders, the quartet smiling brightly. “Say cheese!” Reggie took the picture, blushing brightly as Luke pressed a kiss to his cheek, the image holding that memory firmly. _

Reggie flushes brightly as he spots the second image in Julie’s hand. He reaches over to try and take the picture from her hand, Julie jumping out of the way as she watches his reactions.

“Oh my God-!”   
“What?”   
“You have a crush on Luke!” The boy babbles unintelligibly as his cheeks grow hotter.   
“No, you have a crush on Luke!” He pulls an Uno reverse card from his pocket, Julie bursting out into laughter as she sees the card.  
“I mean, we’re dating but you’re right - and I don’t deny it - unlike you.” He relents with a nervous chuckle, rubbing the nape of his neck.   
“So maybe I have a small crush on Luke-” Julie bounces on the balls of her feet, slapping his shoulder wildly.   
“Awesome!”

He looks at her strangely. “You’re not mad?”   
“Why would I be?”   
“You got there first?” She shakes her head and flops, graceful as always, next to him.   
“You got there in 1994 or 95 - you just didn’t know it.” Reggie opens his mouth to protest but quickly closes it as he realises he has nothing to say to that.   
“That…. is true. Fair enough.”

They sit in silence, flicking through photos, Julie glancing back up at her bandmate every now and again.

“You gonna tell him?” He splutters and sets the pictures down, mussing his hair.   
“Absolutely not.”   
“Why not?” She crosses her arms, setting the old polaroids on the table.   
“Because he likes you.”   
“He’s poly-”   
“Which doesn’t necessarily mean he likes me.”, he pointed out.  
“But it means he might.” She pokes his stomach, Reggie snorting and paling suddenly.

Julie looks back at where he’s staring, spotting Luke standing by the door, Julie’s old ipod still playing music from the earphones dangling in his hand.

“Luke! Look, Julie, it’s Luke. Lukester, Lukiepoo, Luke-a-” Reggie’s impromptu rambling is cut off by Julie, her hand plastered over his mouth.   
“Been there, done that - not fun.” She mumbles at him, smiling widely at the singer. “Hey, Luke!”   
“Hey.” He walks into the garage and spots the pictures, grinning brightly. “Oh hey, it’s Christmas!” Reggie moves Julie’s hand from his mouth.   
“Uh, yeah, I might have told Julie that you and Alex used to date and showed her the polaroids.”   
“She already knew, dude.” He kneels on the floor and looks between the old pictures, smiling sadly at the pictures of the four boys.   
“No, I didn’t.” Luke looks up in surprise at the girl.   
“I swear I told you-” She shakes her head, avoiding the urge to smile. “Oh- well, Alex and I used to date.” She shares a look with Reggie, their affection for the ghost clear in their eyes.   
“Who’d’ve guessed?”

She reaches towards the table and knocks some of the pictures off. “Oops- Reggie, help me pick these up.” She sends a sweet smile Luke’s way, her heart fluttering when he sends one back, and pulls Reggie down by the elbow. Luke raises an eyebrow, one earphone in as he hums and keeps rifling through the images.

“Ow-!” He hisses quietly as he hits said elbow on the table. The pair face each other, confusion all over the poor boy’s face.  
“Sorry-” She winces and shakes her head, slowly picking the pictures. “You gotta tell him-” She whispers, the boy frantically shaking his head.   
“I can’t-”   
“What’s the worst that could happen?”   
“Easy for you to say - you know he likes you.” He looks around, seeing Luke’s jean-cladded knees shuffle around he continues, seemingly unaware of their conversation. “I can’t ruin things between us. We’re family and I can’t-”   
“You won’t lose him,” she puts a hand on his knee, looking up at him, “he used to date Alex, right?” The boy nods, busying himself with the fallen polaroids. “And they’re still good, right?”   
“That doesn’t mean they didn’t hurt each other-” He sighs as he picks up the last picture. It was one of Luke with his family, taken only a few weeks before he ran away.

_ He was kneeling with his dog, Zeppelin, his parents smiling brightly as he tried to get the dog to stay still. “Stay.” The dog behaved himself, Luke swinging one arm over his back. “Good boy.” _ _   
_ _ “Smile!” Reggie lifted the camera, snapping the picture just as the dog gets excited and jumps up, knocking Luke over and licking his face. The teenager yelped in surprise, laughing as he tried to shift the large animal. Reggie took another two pictures of this scene, the first image probably coming out blurry. _

He’d kept the blurred image, one of the non-blurry pictures given to Luke’s parents and the other to Luke. He could still hear the scene in his head. “Luke’s been through enough. I don’t wanna hurt him-”

“You wouldn’t hurt me.” The pair jump up from under the table, Reggie this time hitting his head, the rest of the pictures falling off the table.   
“Fuck-!” He groans loudly, pressing his hand against his head. “I get that we’re sorta tangible now but that doesn’t mean I have to keep hurting myself!” He yells at no one in particular. Luke moves next to the whining boy, looking at his head.   
“You’re fine. And, y’know, not hurt.” He whips his head, ignoring the mild pain in his head as his cheeks flare bright red.   
“Did you just call me fine-?”   
“Yup.” He grins and picks up Julie’s black cat, making soft soothing noises and stoking her soft fur. “Even Melody agrees, Reggie’s pretty fine.” Said ghost looks between Luke, Julie and the cat wondering if they were playing an elaborate prank on him.   
“What…. is going on?” He tilts his head, setting the pictures on the table and moving to pick the rest of the pictures. The singer looks at Julie as he tries to come up with an explanation, scratching lightly behind Melody’s ears.  
“I might have been eavesdropping?” Reggie groans and covers his face, shuffling the images in his hands nervously.   
“How much did you hear-?”   
“Like all of it-”   
“God-” He puts the pictures down on the table, looking up at Luke who gave the cat to Julie.

“Look-” Reggie starts only to have Luke cut him off.   
“Can I actually go first-?” Reggie bites his lip anxiously, looking over to Julie who gives him a thumbs up. He smiles and nods at him, Luke sitting in front of him, their legs crossed.

“I like you. Have since ‘93 - I didn’t realise till I was dating Alex and so tried to push it out of mind. I didn’t know poly was a thing till now and I know now that I like my very awesome girlfriend,” he smiles shyly as he thinks of her, “and I like our very awesome bassist.” Reggie blinks at him in disbelief. Luke frowns and looks back at Julie who shrugs. He waves a hand in front of his face, Reggie jerking back instinctually. “You good, dude?” He gapes, red spreading further over his ears.   
“My crush of two years just said he’s liked me for 3- This-”, he gestures vaguely at the group, “this isn’t possible-”   
“Is it really that hard to believe?” Julie raises her eyebrows at him from the couch.   
“That Luke Patterson has a crush on me? Yes.”   
“Why? You’re hot, you play at least three instruments and can read Shakespeare off the top of your head.” Reggie freezes.   
“You called me hot-”   
“Yes, Reggie. Y’see, I have these things called eyes- I get that yours don’t work as well as most people’s-”   
“Oh, come on; I haven’t worn glasses since I was like 15-”   
“That doesn’t mean you don’t need them-”   
“We’re dead, man. I’m pretty sure I don’t need them- or do I-?” They sit in silence as they ponder their afterlife, Julie watching her dummies.

She coughs, drawing their attention towards her. She motions towards the two of them, the pair blushing as they remember their conversation. Julie sighs and lets Melody go, marching towards them with her hands on her hips. The boys lean back, slightly intimidated. “Luke, you like Reggie?”   
“Yeah.”   
“And Reggie, you like Luke?”   
“Yeah.”   
“Luke, do you wanna date Reggie?” The latter looks up at her in surprise.   
“Definitely.” Reggie stares at the ghost, pleasantly surprised.   
“Reggie, d’you wanna date Luke?”   
“Yes?”   
“Good - you are now dating. Congratulations.”

Reggie stares blankly at the girl. “Wait, what-?”   
“What what?”   
“That’s that? We’re suddenly dating now?”   
“Pretty much.” She nods and smiles happily, chuckling at Luke’s excited grin.   
“I have a girlfriend and boyfriend- awesome!” He gazes at the pair of them softly, Reggie giggling happily.   
“I have a boyfriend-” The pair beam at him. “My first boyfriend. Wicked!” He smiles brightly as Alex and Willie walk in.

“Finally!” Alex stuffs his hands in his hoodie pockets, shaking his head at them. “I’ve been watching you two pine over each other for years.”   
“I wouldn’t say years-” Reggie attempts to defend them.   
“I would.”

Willie sits next to Julie and watches the exchange, taking his notebook out and tapping the table to let her know he’s there. “Hey Willie.”   
“Hey Jules.”, he says, writing it onto the pad, adding a smiley face.

“And we weren’t ‘pining’.” Luke backs up his boyfriend, Reggie nodding in support.   
“Are you kidding me- You look at each other like that cat from Shrek-” Melody hisses at the word cat before returning to grooming herself on top of Julie’s piano. Alex narrows his eyes at the cat. “Gremlin-”   
“Don’t be mean to my baby-” She tosses one of Luke’s shirts at him, the boy just watching as it passes through him.   
“Your ‘baby’ is mean-” He grumbles, sitting next to Willie.

“So how was your date?” Willie smiles brightly, lightly nudging the blond with his shoulder.  
“We went to the old Ghost Club and smoked weed mostly - no clue why but eating and stuff, still possible there, even without Caleb.” Willie talks and writes for Julie, Alex hiding his face in his cap. “There may have been some graffiti involved-”   
“Alex? Our straight-laced, trustworthy Alex broke the law?” Luke looks between the two ghosts, impressed but in complete disbelief.   
“Technically, the law doesn’t actually apply to us anymore. So, no, he did not.”   
“Alright, Alex! Welcome to the dark side; we break the rules and look good doing it.” Reggie pats his knee, groans escaping from behind the hat. He sweeps his hair back and puts the cap on, Willie staring at him with adoration in his eyes. “What-”   
“You’re cute.”  
“I’m-” The flustered boy takes a, technically unnecessary, breath. “Okay-” Willie giggles quietly at the pink flourishing across his boyfriend’s face, Luke, Reggie and Julie sharing a look.

Luke nods towards the door and the trio leave the couple to themselves. “So, they’re adorable.” Reggie remarks as soon as they’re out of earshot.   
“Right?” Luke walks backwards, his hands tucked into the pockets of his sleeveless hoodie.   
“Like, I can’t even see Willie and I can still tell they’re meant for each other.” Julie tucks a curl behind her ear, talking animatedly with Reggie, Luke watching them with a soft grin on his face. ‘My girlfriend and boyfriend - awesome!’ 

**Author's Note:**

> maybe check out my tumblr? 👉🏽👈🏽  
> writing blog @swearwolf-writes  
> main blog @bangchanseonyeondan


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